# Looking for books containing lots of information **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533 "2017-09-17T13:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/21 "2017-09-18T00:37:19Z")
[The People’s Chronology: A Year-By-Year Record of Human Events from Prehistory to the Present.](https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Chronology-Year-Year-Prehistory/dp/0805031340/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505694844&sr=8-1&keywords=the+people%27s+chronology+of) Older editions are available at Abebooks for less than $4 including shipping. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/22 "2017-09-18T01:14:14Z")
_ **The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretative History of Russian Culture** _ by James Billington. I had to read this in graduate school, and I gave a copy to my half-Russian daughter for Christmas a couple of years ago. If I had the time, I’d revisit it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/23 "2017-09-18T01:23:24Z")
The _Boy Scout Handbook_ has a ton of information in it, most of it very practical. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/24 "2017-09-18T02:22:30Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Are those “[Book of Lists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Lists)” books still around? AFAIK, they’re out of print but not hard to find. The first three, which came out in the late 1970s, were huge best-sellers, and the fourth, which came out IIRC around 2000, much less so. #4 also does not have the Janis Joplin fixation that the other Wallechinsky volumes possess. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/25 "2017-09-18T04:17:34Z")
Speaking of books of lists, there’s also the _1001 Must See_ series of books. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintessence\_Editions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintessence_Editions) It starts with _1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die_ and goes on to cover other subjects like books, music, food, and places to visit. I enjoyed them. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/26 "2017-09-18T05:18:12Z")
Kevin Kelley’s Cool Tools is a review of all sorts of tools you didn’t know existed but suddenly discover you need. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/27 "2017-09-18T05:18:29Z")
[The New York Public Library Desk Reference](https://www.amazon.com/York-Public-Library-Desk-Reference/dp/0786868465) is a compendium of all kinds of information. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/28 "2017-09-18T10:05:04Z")
Michael Hart’s _ **The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History** _. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/29 "2017-09-18T14:38:31Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Trying out for Jeopardy? No, it’s just what he does. He’s a retired dairy farmer. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/30 "2017-09-18T15:13:12Z")
All great suggestions. Thank you. I like the music history idea but I think a Rock history book would be more up his alley. I have my eye on “The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 1” now. Cool Tools sounds like the perfect thing for an ex-farmer. I like the look of The People’s Chronology, too. I put a bunch of these in my cart so I have ideas for next year, too. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/31 "2017-09-18T16:29:56Z")
A comprehensive history of the British Empire would keep him busy for quite some time. Also “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, by Gibbons is a fairly weighty tome. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/32 "2017-09-18T18:04:25Z")
[Thing Explainer](https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/) is fun. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/33 "2017-09-18T18:49:01Z")
What If? by Randal Munroe. [https://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/B00LV2F1ZA](https://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/B00LV2F1ZA) ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/34 "2017-09-18T19:01:31Z")
In a darker vein, [_The Great Big Book of Horrible Things_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Big_Book_of_Horrible_Things) is a survey of the 100 greatest historical causes of death (man-made). Wars, famines, genocides, etc. Entertainingly written, and interesting for the layperson. (I hope we’re all amateurs, if not strictly laypeople perhaps, at megadeath-causing actions.) Somewhat similar in heft, and similarly grim in subject: Bill James’s _Popular Crime_, a survey of notorious American crimes. [http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/books/bill-jamess-popular-crime-book-review.html](http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/books/bill-jamess-popular-crime-book-review.html) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/35 "2017-09-18T19:05:17Z")
In the same vein, Mary Roach’s [Stiff](https://www.amazon.com/Stiff-Curious-Lives-Human-Cadavers/dp/0393324826)is pretty entertaining and informative. She has several others of similar type, but I haven’t read them. I should. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/36 "2017-09-18T19:14:08Z")
Mark Kurlansky writes many interesting books, such as _Salt_ and _Cod_, which are histories of those food items. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/37 "2017-09-18T19:19:58Z")
> [@AllShookDown](#): > > Thanks for the ideas so far. I’d say he’s more into travel/history than trivia. Although available online for free, the [CIA World Factbook](https://www.amazon.com/CIA-World-Factbook-2017/dp/1510712887) also comes in traditional paper format and makes interesting browsing for people interested in that sort of thing. It’s fairly cheap for its size (1,114 pages) since it’s actually public domain and the publisher isn’t recouping any writing/research costs. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/38 "2017-09-18T23:18:51Z")
I quite liked The Time Traveler’s Guides (Medieval England, Elizabethan England, etc.) by Ian Mortimer. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/39 "2017-09-18T23:59:02Z")
[The Book of Camping and Woodcraft](https://www.amazon.com/Book-Camping-Woodcraft-Guidebook-Wilderness-ebook/dp/B00IQH07PC/ref=pd_sim_351_47?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=E3YAPM0EHGFC72Z6SXHK). Originally published in 1906, it’s a book that teaches how to live off the land and not succumb to the wilderness. It’s lost knowledge but still useful…or could be. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533/40 "2017-09-19T00:30:14Z")
Look in used book stores for old World Almanacs, at least 30-40 years old. Statistical data from several decades ago is nearly impossible to find anywhere else. Almanacs have to remove a useful fact, to make room for every new one they add. Also, pre-1960 almanacs will not have been scrubbed for political correctness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-containing-lots-of-information/796533.md?page=3)